Fiber Arts Festival kicks off Friday

The North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival, which begins Friday, Oct. 1, offers a museum exhibition, educational demonstrations of fiber processes and hands-on experiences for children and adults, as well as a market of goods and fiber supplies and information about local fiber activities.

The free, interactive festival at Sequim Museum & Arts at 544 N. Sequim Ave., will mark its 16th anniversary this coming weekend.

On Friday, during the First Friday Art Walk in Sequim from 5p.m. to 8p.m. there will be an opening reception for a juried fiber arts exhibit, the “Bumblebunching – Warped, Twisted, & Imperfect.”

The show, will be on display until Nov. 27, celebrates happy accidents, successful satisfaction in Wabi-Sabi, and unintended artistic experiences that often lead to evolutionary forms of expression, said Renne Emiko Brock, director of the festival.

“Fiber artists yearn for thorough planning and tight intention, gratification in challenging practice, and ritual appreciation and amusement in transience and incomplete mistakes. Bumblebunching are the exuberant jumbled loops created by the bobbin when stitching has improper tension while machine sewing,” she said.

Bumblebunching exhibition artists include Brock, Lynn Baritelle, Honey Bliss, Donna Lee Dowdney, Liisa Fagerlund, Susanne Foster, Peggy St. George, Leslie Hoex, Estelle Jackson, Susan Kroll, Jacki Moseley, Kelly Ruth, Susan Savage, Gloria Skovronsky, Marla Varner and Jean Wyatt.

On Saturday, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., a Fiber Arts Extravaganza will offer free educational demonstrations, hands-on engagement for all ages and a Fiber Arts Market.

Visitors will have the opportunity to shop for items from fleece to finished products including apparel, household goods, and supplies to create your own fiber works.

Demonstrations are planned of spinning yarn, felting, knitting, hooking, weaving and hand stitching.

Also on Saturday, artists with work in the “Bumblebunching — Warped, Twisted, & Imperfect” exhibition will be available to talk about what inspires them and how they create their art at the “Meet the Makers” Fiber Arts Reception throughout the afternoon.

Next Sunday, Oct. 3, the “Bumblebunching” exhibit will be open from noon-3 p.m.

The North Olympic Fiber Arts Festival respects the COVID health and wellness guidelines of Clallam County including masks, social distancing, and limited capacity, Brock said.

The Sequim Museum & Arts is normally open from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.

For more details, see FiberArtsFestival.org and Facebook.com/northolympicfiberartsfestival.

“At the Junction” by Marla Varner. Submitted art

“At the Junction” by Marla Varner. Submitted art

“Bumblebunched with Bowl” by Estelle Jackson. Submitted photo

“Bumblebunched with Bowl” by Estelle Jackson. Submitted photo

”Experiment in Green 1” by Donna Dowdney. Submitted art

”Experiment in Green 1” by Donna Dowdney. Submitted art